Transmission mechanism



Sept.4 18, 1951 I J. G. VINCENT y y 2,568,135

TRANSMISSION MECHANISM Filed March 15, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V ENTDR. Jssl G I//Ncnv 1' A T TORn/E YJ Sept. 18, 1951 Filed March 15, 1945J. G.. VINCENT TRANSMISSION MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 BRAKE CLUTCH q/46 r1bw "17 la"V I faz. uw' BUF sa 9 1^ GOVERNOR 7B 84`T v -I 5| 51.57o

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95 .9/ 97 los F/G 3 "0 JNVENToR. T5555 G V//vcENr m r fe AT1-'on Mfrs toa lower speed vruling the automatic control, lower speed forwardPatented Sept. `18, 1951 TRANSMSSVION MECHANISM Jesse G. Vincent, GroePointe Park, Mich., as-

lignor to Packard Moto r Car Company, Detroit,

Mich.a corporation of Michigan v Appunti Much 15, 1945, serial No.582,933 y comme. (ci. 'x4-412) This invention relates to transmissionmechanism and more particularly to control mechanism for planetarychange speed gearing.

An object of the invention is to provide transmission mechanism formotor vehicles that will befquiet and smooth under all normal operatingconditions.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fluid driven motorvehicle change speed transmission mechanism with control means wherebythe -mechanism will be ineffective to drive while the motor is ,idlingand the vehicle is standing l still although in geared relation fordriving.

Another object of the invention is to provide a planetary change speedgearing, connected to an engine solely through afluid coupling, withcontrol means by which the following conditions may be had, to wit:several automatically selected forward speeds and one or more reversespeeds, positive driving coupling engageable or disengage-g able with atail shaft, freedom from fluid coupling creep, step-down from highforward speed for rapid acceleration by overdrive by overruling theautomatic control-independently of the throttle position, and crankingof a dead `engine through the transmission by pushing the vehicle.

A further object of the invention is to provide 'a hydraulicallyactuated clutch in change speed gearing with means for neutralizing theeect of centrifugal force of the rotating fluid acting in clutchengaging direction.

Qther objects of the invention will appear from the followingdescription taken in connection with the drawings, which form a part ofthis specification, and in which:

v, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a transmission mechanismincorporating the invention;

' YFig. 2 is a diagrammatic view of the control meansfor thetransmission mechanism:

` Fig. f3 is a fragmentary `side elevational view of a motor vehicleshowing the relation of the control means with the transmissionmechanism.

Transmission mechanism is housed in casing I0 secured to one end ofinternal combustion engine |I. VThe engine crankshaft I2 is connected twith a uid coupling device I3 that transmits power fromthe engine toshafts I4 and I5. A driven shaft I3 aligns with the shafts Il and I5 andepicyclic change speed gearing I1, of the planetary type. is connectedto transmit drive Yfrom the clutch shafts to the driven shaft. Shaft I6aligns with tail shaft I8 and forward and reverse selector mechanism Ilis arranged to couple or uncouple these shafts. The tail shaft iscoupled to propeller shaft 2li suitably connected to drive wheels, oneof which is indicated at 2|, of a vehicle.

The fluid coupling device, the change speed gearing and the shaftsreferred to may be of the general type shown and described in patentapplication Serial No. 436,159, filed MarchIY 25, 1942, by William A.Dufiield, now Patent 2,373,234. The coupling device comprises animpeller section 22 bolted to the crankshaft, a rst runner 23 adapted todrivingly connect with shaft i4 through. a spring type overrunningclutch 24,`

and a. second runner 25 fixed to shaft I5. The runners are concentricwith the impeller and are designed and arranged so that liquid will flowtherethrough in series as indicated by arrows in Fig. l.

The change speed gearing includes drive gear 2l formed or fixedon shaftI4, drive gear 26 formed or fixed on shaft l5, driven gear 28 formed 0rilxed on shaft i6, carrier 29 and multiple spool gears 30 rotatable onpins 3| fixed to the carrier. The spool gears each comprises gear 32meshing with gear 26, gear 33 meshing with gear 21 and gear 34 meshingwith gear 28; l The forward and reverse selector mechanism I9 includes asun gear 35 slidably splined to shaft I6, ring gear 36 xed to tail shaftI8, carrier 31, pins 38 fixed on the carrier and planet gears 38rotatable on the pins and meshing with gears and 36. The carrier isfixed in an axial direction with sun gear 35 and is axially shiftable byfork 40 to engage teeth 4| on the forwardend of the carrier with teeth42 formed on member attached to the casing when moved forwardly and toengage the sun gear teeth with teeth 43 on the ring gear when movedrearwardly. A synchronizer ring 44 is slidably splined to the carrierand is restrained by spring pressed balls 44' to shift with the carrieruntil a conical end engages brake cone V45 fixed to the casing or brakecone 46 xed thereon engages a conical end of ring gear 36. Thus thecarrier will be stopped in its rotation before teeth 4| engage teeth 42or the ring gearli will be held stationary with the carrier before it isengaged with teeth 43.

. v.Shaft I6 will drive shaft I8 forwardly there- V'verse drive, therewill be no coupling between tion even though the change speed will he lnrst through runner 23 and then throughy 2l. Runner 26 will first becomeeifective to 'the change speed gearing through overrunning clutch 26.shaft Il. and gears v Y Vrier must be discontinued.

sleeve and a backing memberflQ' beingsecured.-

Piston 52 in'chamber 6| 'is operated to engagev 21, Il, 2l and 2l. Asthe fluid coupling speed increases runner 26 will take over the drive toshaft |6 through shaft Il. and gears 26, 32, Il and 26, and lmder suchdriving condition'shaft I6 may overrun runner 23. Gears 21 and Il have aratio to provide the low speed drive and gears 26 and l2 have a ratio toprovide a higher speed drive. When either pair of meshing gears is madeeffective to drive, carrier 29 must be braked. High speed or directdrive may be obtained by l to shaft I6 and at such time braking ofthecar- The carrier may be braked or locked by control means, in theform of hydraulically operated Ide'- vices 45 and 46, operativeautomatically to provide three driving speeds. Device 46 is a brake forholding carrier 29 stationary with casing wall v 61 in which is provideda chamber 5|. Brake plates Il are alternately splined on the carrier 29and sleeve l! projecting into the recess, such to wall 41 by bolts 50.

the brake plates while springs 5I' normally disengage such plates.

Device 46 is a friction clutch housed in chamber Il formed by easingmembers 6I and 56 secured by bolts I1 tothe carrier end flange 66. Thischamber contains clutch plates I8 alternately splined to sleeve 66 thatis splined on shaft I6 and to casing member arranged in the front end ofthe clutch chamber to engage the clutch plates for locking shaft I6 tocarrier 29. in chamber will engage the clutch.

The brake and the clutch pistons are moved to engage the adjacent platesby a duid system having a conduit 6l connected at its ends with ps 66and 66. pump 65 being driven engine and having an inlet conduit 61 opento the oil in the bottom of engine pan 6l.l Pump comprises gears 69 and1l. gear 66 being nxed on shaft 1| having gear 12 splined thereon andmesh.

ing with ,gear 16 splined on the tail shaft Il. Oil is drawn throughpassage 14`in the casing III from the sump below the change speedgearing. Conduit 16 connects conduit 64 with a valve device housing 1Band conduits 16' and 11 lead from tn. ien. pssitionns shown in rig. 2.spening the the housing. Conduit 16 may be any-suitable drilled passageor tube leading to brake chamber Il, and conduit 11 may be a suitablepassage in easing III leading to the clutch chamber Il.

Housing 1l containsla shiftable valve 16`hav- Y ing a middle reduceddiameter portion providing a space through which oil can now fromconduit 16 to conduit 16 or to conduit 11 dependingupon the valveposition. Spring clutch chamber and The valve device is under thecontrol of an electric system having a solenoid Il acting upon stem 62of valve 19. when energized, to pull it to hydraulic system to the brakechamber scarsa A s slof electricity may be battery 66 connected withdrive locking tde carrier 26y Il. Backing plate 6| yis 1 Oil pressureagainst piston Il" bythev` lll normally will move the valve to connectthe 'iiuid system with the Y.

shutting of! the system to the and shut? 4. ting od the system to gelectric system comprises circuit means in which a plurality of devicesor instrumentalities arev provided for controlling Lthe current to thesoleg noid as required for various driving operations. l The circuitmeans is arranged to utilize a portion of the engine ignition system.'I'he source an ignitlonswitch B5 by conductor vI6. Conductor 6.1 leadsfrom the ignition'switch to the solenoid and has a conductor theengineignitiorisystem. Conductor I6 leads from the solenoid and mayv begrounded to com'- pletethe solenoid circuit yby switch devices 6l.

4ns al and n arranged 1n samuel, switch n is operated by agovernondeviceft driven bygear M iixed on pump shaft 1|.; As the pumpshaft is drivenfrom the'tail shaft lfthe governor will operate inaccordance withj vehicle speed. The 20 n' arrangement is such .thatswitch 92V will be closed by `the]v overnor below-."a-predetermined`vel'iicie speedand-thus the SoIenoidcircuitz'WiIl be broken aduring'themajsfpmsn'ofthe vehicle operation. switch' in;liscnntmi1e1-iwf-,the accelerator pedal 95 and iS arranged t0beblorsedrwhile the pedal is f depressed beyondl wide open throttleposition.`

.Switch slljisoperatedmavxiually byya knob at the vehicle dash ,'91.-When, any one .of the iluidcoupling runners 'andthefload When theyswitches are all penvthe solenoidfcircult is broken and spring "id willmove .valve 16y to shut yof! the hydraulic systemsto-,brake device f, so

that the carrier126-i`sreleased. and opening the 4o hydraulic system tothe 'clutch to` engage the same thereby locking shaft I6 directly tocarrier 2l for direct drive through theA change speed gearing. y

Shifter fork 66 is fixed to shaft 100 andffsuch shaft is rotatablyactuated by leverflllgrtowhich Bowden wire' |02 is attached. Thiscontrol'wire extends to.y the vehicle dash and hasarknob `lll iixedtoits end vthat-is actuated. by :the driver to Pump newpsretefwhhthefvehicle is Stenen@ auseitssiriv Shaft isnt'grM-h ing an`dition.engine'driven,purnp y the enginev is is providedinc l ss DumfpWhile the@ in the vehiclelis sta dings pressure to engagegeith 46 and.consequently th change speed gearinggwillidlean illnotdrive'. v so`This,Uarrangementfprevents'lthe. .Vehicle ffro'm laptrailic 'sighal;with. l n m 1 coupledfj-fto 'the tail f 11ml? 6l and I normalmey engine'intake fuel intakepjj pressure.

the. clutch chamber. H'lhe .Il leading therefrom toV f estalzylish"-`forwardkdrive, reverse drive, For' neutral. j

Flow; controlff means |66 'setlist when t mai-.pressure wm-asiwreestabnsn me y Valveliousingjl` :radiant :singende:

release of the clutch when dictated by the control means. so means forneutralizing the clutch engaging effect of this centrifugal force isprovided. Weights. as indicated by numeral H2 are pivoted on pins Illextending through parallel ears ill on the carrier end flange member Ilforming a section of the carrier 29. such sections being securedtogether by bolts 29'. Each weight has oppositely disposed fingers lli,one of which is engaged by spring pressure member Ill and the other ofwhich engages one end of an actuator rod III extending into the clutchhousing and engaging the piston 54'. These weights move in or out inaccordance with centrifugal force and as the rotational speed increasesthey move actuator rods lil to create a force equal to and opposing thatdeveloped by centrifugal force of the fluid in the housing acting toengage the clutch. Thus the piston for engaging the cutch will beresponsive only to the liquid force` developed by the pumps as the fluidcentrifugal force is neutralized. Y

Forward drive is obtained when sun gear 3l is engaged with ring gearteeth 4l. Three forward speeds are obtained automatically. Below apredetermined vehicle speed. governor switch $2 is closed energizingsolenoid Il so that the valve 'Il opens the system to engager brake I5holding carrier 2! stationary. Under this condition either'couplingrunner 2l or 25 may be effective.

so that the planetary gearing i1 will be conditioned to drive throughthe low or high ratio sets of gears. When the vehicle reaches somepredetermined speed, such as miles per hour. the governor ll opensswitch device 92 thereby breaking the circuit to the solenoid so thatspring Il moves valve lil to its other position opening the hydraulicsystem to engage clutch Il. 'I'his clutch engagement will lock thevcarrier 28 and sun gear 2l together so that the gearing I'I rotates as aunit with shaft l5 to drive the tail l shaft il at crankshaft speedexcept for the slip in mild coupling I3.

In normal vehicle operation the governor dictates either high speeddrive when switch device n is open or the lower speed drives when theswitch device 92 is closed. There are operating f conditions. such aspassing another vehicle, where the driver may wish to overrule thegovernor to temporarily shift from high speed drive to second speeddrive. Switch device 92 will be open deenergizing the solenoid to engagethe clutch 4l. so the accelerator pedal l is depressed beyond wide openthrottle position to close switch device Il and thereby complete thesolenoid circuit and thereby shift valve 19 draulic system to the clutchdevice and open it to the brake device. As long as switch. device Il isheid closed the gearing will be conditioned for rst or second speeddrive, but when opened the control means will shift back to high speeddrive position provided the vehicle is still moving above the speed atwhich the governor will hold switch I2 open.

There are conditions. such as traveling downto close the hy-` couplingwill be rotated i controlled switch means a,see,iss

yengaged to establish first or second speed drive through the gearingI'I. The anti-creep control means lll. eii'ective when the vehicle isstanding still with the engine idling. will function the same when thegearing is conditioned for either forward or reverse drives.

When the engine is stalled, it may'be cranked -by engaging selectormechanism il and pushing the vehicle. Shaft Il will be rotated by thevehicle driving wheels 2|.-and -pump Il will be driven to`charge thehydraulic systemso that brake device 4I will be engaged. and the fluidthrough change speed gearing Il to turn the crankshaft until the enginestarts under its own power.

It will be understood that various forms of the invention other thanthat described above may be used without departing from the spirit orscope ofthe invention.

What is claimed is:

l. In a motor vehicle. the combination with an engine. driving wheels.and transmission means connecting the engine and the driving wheels andincluding a hydraulically operated device. of operating and controlmeans for said device comprising a pump driven from the engine, a secondpump driven from the driving wheels. a conduit leading to the device.connections from Ysaicl pumps to said conduit. a valve in one of saidconnectlons. and means actuated by engine intake pressure forcontrolling the position of saidvalve.

2. In a motor vehicle, the combination with an engine. driving wheels.and transmission means connecting the engine and the driving wheels andincluding a hydraulically operated device. of loperating and controlmeans for said device coniprising a conduit leading to the device. apump having a normally open valved connection to said conduit and drivenfrom the engine. a second pump having 'a connection tosaid device anddriven from the driving wheels, and means operated by high intake vacuumof the engine to close said valved connection.

3. In a motor vehicle. Vthe combination with an engine acceleratorpedal. change speed gearing and a brake engaseable to establish onespeed relation ofthe gearing, of control means for the `brake comprisinga fluid system operable to control the brake. a shlftable ow controlvalve in the system, a solenoid normally energized to shift tem to applythe brake. a spring for shifting the valve to shut on' fluid now to thebrake when the solenoid is deenergized. an electric circuit means. aspeed controlled switch in the circuit for causing energization ofA thesolenoid only below Aa predetermined vehicle speed. switch means in thecircuit controlled by the accelerator pedal when beyond wide openthrottle position tablishlng he circuit means abovev the predeterminedvehlcle speed.

the valve to open the fluid syschange speed searing'. 'a

' vehicle speed, of controlf''me vconnected with the@v y an acceleratorpedal, engine I able to lock the carrier' energized'. electric circuit.

asoman' 4. In a. motor -v'ehicle'th ecombination with va portion "ofthe'geary *to establish one of the drivinggpeedsygndacliitghfcr'estabiishing another vdriving speed through thegearing or con-,brake engageabie with trol means ior-the.brai`cfeandltheclutchcomprising a .'iluid lsyste i' operable to engage the brake or theclutch', a jcontrol'fvalve'in the system normally shuttingfoii now tothebrake and establishing now tothe clutch, a solenoid operable whenenergized -i'or shifting the valve to open thes'ystem-to the brake,

5. In a vmotor vehicle,

an lengine accelerato pedal, rplanetary change speed gearing,y and Tafgove rrion `responsive to 'the' gearing old I one;y elecomprising abrake.` engageable ment ofthe gearing-statiche i drive, 'a` clutchengageable tol ofv thegearingftogether, v l y drive,v a uidwsyste'mleading to said brake and said clutch', a valveinthe' systempshiitableinto two positions vto' siecti elycontrol uidfow to said brake andsaid,clutch,av Springfating t0 move the valve into" position?ingythezsystem to the clutch-,aso gi'zedto .move thegv" v in thesystemtothebra electrico rtwo elements on opening switches in parallel, @ne iof saldivv switches being operated byfthe governoritofclose the samebeand electric circuit.V means connected with the'solenoid. said circuit`the ,combination with g v for establishing the circuit below apredetermined engine speed. means operated by the acceierator pedal toclose the circuitlmeans when` l wide open` thro ttle l intake manifold,iiuid couplingmeans driven-by speed gearing driven by the theengine,changetiuid coupling means, a brage operable to establish one drivingspeed through the gearing when engaged, power means operable to engagethe brake, and control means for the power means comprising a pumpdriven from the engine, a second pump driven fromthe driving wheels. a`conduit leading to the power means,

connections from the pumps to the power-means,

a valve in one of the connections. and means actuated by engine intakepressure for controlling the position of said valve.

s. ni a motor vehicle having driving wheels, change speed gearing, anengine connected to drive the gearing and having an intakemaiutpfestabiish mwv tdestbiisiiiiigh spear low a predeterminedvehiclespeed, another of/g said switches 'being closedlgbyy' pedal when pressed:beyond de position, and the third'switch bei will bythe vehicledriver."

6..1n .a 1 motor vehicle,l the gearing having a sun gear andga'panetcarrien planetary Y theLy accelerator .Af-4 l l n ."'The followingreferences are oi record in the maar and a.V governor 'drivenat-vehicle'or con-p troll Anrieitns for the .gearing comprisingmeans for brakingvthe carrier-fy clutch Ameans 1 engage- Y v 'd'thes'iingearftogethen afluidV system Vfor'engaging,the.braire orvthe clutch,v av shiftablevalve'inlfthe system yfor selecte,

ingl they fluid flow. to theibrake or, the clutch, a spring fornormallyshiftingthe'jvalve to open the 'system to ythevel'utcii.rvlenoid for shifting the valvertoopen' vthe sys in "to' the brake whencans' for energizing governor/responsive control means liold. a drivenshaft. shiitable clutch means opierable to connect or disconnect theshaft with the gearing, a brake operableto hold av portion oil saidgearing to condition thesame for a drivspeed, and control means `tor thebrake com-v prising al pump drivenfrom y y the enginea .second pumpdriven from the driving wheels.` a conduit leading to the power means,connections from the-pumps -to the conduit, a valve in one oi. the

connections, land means actuated by engine inv take pressure forcontrolling the position of Asaid valve to engageor release the brakemeans while the vehicle is standing still with the engine idling.

f JESSE G. VINCENT. I

assumons' man file of this patent:

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